eaDocX doesn’t apply all attributes of table style

[Mike Lucas]

Hi

I’m documenting requirements using EA and attempting to generate documentation in the same style that we have previously used when producing Word documents manually. I have found that I can create a table style which matches the layout I’m looking for, but when I associate it with the Requirement profile eaDocX only seems to apply a subset of the style attributes. When I select the table and reapply the style after eaDocX has generated the document the table changes to match the desired format.

The parts of the style that don’t appear to be applied correctly are:

• Table Properties | Cell | Vertical Alignment: The style is set to Top but eaDocX generates it as Center.
• Table Properties | Cell | Vertical Alignment | Options | Cell Margins: The style is set to have a bottom margin of 0.1 but eaDocX generates it without a bottom margin.

We are using eaDocX Professional Edition 3.4.2.2 with EA 12.0.1215 and MS Word 2010.

Thanks

Mike

[eadocX Support]

are you telling eaDocX to use a Word table style ?

[Mike Lucas]

Yes, I created my own table style based on Table Normal.

I have attached a simple model and word document showing the issue.

You can reproduce the problem by:

1. Regenerate the doc from the model
2. With the table selected in the Word doc, click on the Design tab
3. Right click on the currently selected style (eaDocXRequirementsTable) and select Apply (and clear formatting). (

The format now changes to match the table style.

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by Mike Lucas. Reason: Typo

[Mike Lucas]

Here’s the model.

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by Mike Lucas.

[eadocX Support]

Hi Mike – thanks for the sample – would you like to use the real-time chat on eadocx.com to discuss further ?

[eadocX Support]

I can seem to change all the bits of the Word table style (editing in Word), and eaDocX re-generates your little table just fine…

[Mike Lucas]

Thanks for your help yesterday. I have attached some more files to hopefully explain the situation better.

When the attached Word document is loaded into eaDocX and regenerated, the output I get is as shown in “Document after eaDocX generation.PNG”. If I then select the table containing the requirements and reapply the eaDocXRequirementsTable table style manually, the format changes as shown in “Document after reapplying the eaDocXRequirementsTable style manually.PNG”. The differences are that the vertical text alignment is top rather than center and there’s a bottom margin on each row to space out the requirement text.

Hope that makes more sense. I’d be interested to know if you can reproduced that behaviour.

Thanks

Mike

[Graham]

I’ve had the same problem with word table styles. Also had an issue with fonts not being applied but I managed to work around that.

I’m using Sparx 12.1 -1230, EADocx 3.9.1 and Word 2010.

[Mike Lucas]

Just confirming that we have updated our version of eaDocX to 3.9.1.2 and the problem still exists. From what I can see from the release notes this hasn’t been addressed in any of the releases since 3.9.1.2.

Are there any plans to fix this? This is causing us real problems.

Thanks

Mike

[eadocX Support]

I thought I fixed this – i certainly remember looking at it.
Please can you try with the latest version (3.9.2.4)

[Mike Lucas]

Thanks for the prompt response. I’ll see if I can get it updated and try again.

[Mike Lucas]

I’ve now been able to try this with v3.9.2.4 of eaDocX and I can confirm that the problem still exists.

[eadocX Support]

I’ve had a really long look into this again, and I think there is a problem with the HTML interface into Word, which is what eaDocX uses to insert content in Word.
Sometimes i can get it to work as you require, then i change something in Word, and it reverts back. Then I can’t get the original config to work, then it starts to work again.
I think this another case of the Word API behaving badly – eaDocX has several work-arounds which fix these, but only when there is a clear pattern of behavior.

Here, there isn’t.

I’ve looked into this before, and didn’t reach a conclusion then, except to attempt a crude work-around.

There is a ‘vertical alignment’ setting in eaDocX which we DO send to Word (even when you have already said ‘use this Word table style’ (which also contains a vertical alignment setting)) and Word seems to take notice of this: but there is an interference effect: sometime it uses the eaDocX setting, sometimes the one which you specify in the Word table style. And then it changes back. That’s the snag.

So i’m afraid we’re drawing a blank on this one. What you have is our best shot at fixing the problem.
🙁

[Mike Lucas]

Thanks for looking into this, much appreciated.

All may not be lost. Setting the eaDocX table “vertical alignment” property to top, in conjunction with the table style alignment, appears to give us what we need in this instance. This may cause other issues in the future but it solves my current problem. 🙂

Thanks

Mike

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